Over the past few years, bashing China for its policy and actions in the South China Sea has become quite common in the US foreign policy community. More recently, the criticism has become ever more strident and dangerous.

As the rising number of reported cases of abuse suffered by Filipino domestic workers in Kuwait reveals, these maids are vulnerable to all forms of maltreatment, including physical, sexual or verbal abuse, non-payment of salaries, and long working hours with no rest days.

In order to manage and bridge their differences in the South China Sea, China and the US should not be trapped in the preconceived idea that conflicts are inevitable but rather put themselves in each other’s shoes.

A team of legal experts from the Chinese Society of International Law has just published a major critique of the PCA arbitral award in the case of Philippines v. China on their South China Sea dispute in the Chinese Journal of International Law.

Hours after the Mahathir-led opposition coalition Pakatan Harapan clinched a surprising victory at the Malaysian 14th General Election, Mahathir told reporters that his new government “may renegotiate” some deals with China.

Malaysia’s 92-year old Dr Mahathir Mohamad is voted back into power. He is likely to reach out to other opposition figures as well as anti-Najib factions within the former ruling party, as he pursues justice for the scandals plaguing Malaysian politics.

Most analysts agree that China and the US are locked in a seminal long-term struggle for dominance in Asia. A new and more dangerous phase in their troubled relationship may be beginning and one window on this dynamic is their behavior in the South China Sea.